Famous Washington portrait on display at LVAM

Friday, June 28, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

When: Saturday through Oct. 27.

Where: Las Vegas Art Museum, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.

Admission: $5; $3 for seniors; free for children under age 12.

Information: 360-8000.

Beginning this weekend Southern Nevadans will have a chance to view the most famous painting of the father of our country, when "George Washington: A National Treasure" opens Saturday at Las Vegas Art Museum.

The 8-by-5-foot portrait was painted from life by Gilbert Stuart in 1796 during the last year of Washington's presidency.

The work is considered an American treasure.

"This is the single work of art that is comparable in importance to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," said Marc Pachter, director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery has had the painting on loan since 1968 and now owns the painting.

Commonly known as the Lansdowne portrait, the painting was commissioned by by Sen. William Bingham and his wife Anne of Pennsylvania as a gift for the Marquis of Lansdowne, one of few English supporters of American independence.

The painting is recognized for its description of the political and emotional climate of the country at the time.

"It provided a visual record of what was entirely new about a democratically run country with a chief executive at the top who was not a king," Pachter said.

"This painting would become what is a summary of what a president is in the United States -- and who George Washington was," he added. "This is the painting that said it all."

Looking dignified and noble, Washington was dressed in civilian clothes rather than military dress to signify that he was a citizen of the new democracy.

"A number of things were painted in to send a signal that his dignity, his importance is completely based on the nature of the office," Pachter said.

Books on the American revolution and Constitution are seen in the painting.

Additionally, Pachter explained, majestic items in the painting were transformed with American symbols signaling that the country was rooted in tradition, but that it was a tradition that was transformed through time.

"It is certainly the most historical painting done in America and the most important portrait done in America," Pachter said.

The Rosebery family of England bought the painting in the late 1800s and loaned it to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in 1968, where the painting became a focal point of the gallery.

Near the end of 2000 the youngest member of the Rosebery family (Lord Dalmeny), who had inherited the portrait, was going to sell it at auction.

Pachter flew to England to ask that the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery have exclusive rights to purchase the painting. The request was granted. But the gallery needed $20 million to purchase it.

"It was a patriotic emergency," Pachter said.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation of Las Vegas offered $20 million to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery so that it could purchase the painting.

Additionally, the foundation provided an extra $10 million to pay for the painting's national tour and the dedicated gallery space at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

The tour was launched in February in Houston and will continue through 2004, stopping in eight cities. An interactive version of the portrait can be seen online at georgewashington.si.edu.

The tour is taking place during the gallery's renovation in Washington, D.C., and provides Americans who live far from the nation's capital the opportunity to see the painting, Pachter said.

"This becomes the occasion for us to reconnect with George Washington."